Pupin, who moved to the US at the age of 16, attended at the invitation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where he intervened to help Slovenia keep a part of its territory.

A significant part of the Julian Alps and the valleys below them are said to be Slovenian because of Pupin, who became an honorary citizen of Bled, considered and Alpine pearl, during his lifetime.

In a short addresses at the ceremony, Pahor spoke of the need to "enforce ideals together" and expressed the wish for the long and sincere friendship between the Slovenian and Serbian nations to continue.

"We have famous role models in our past, but it is upon us to also give a chance for the future to such role models as Mihajlo Pupin," he also said.

Echoing this, Nikolić said that there have been many famous individuals in the joint history of Slovenians and Serians who taught us that was right that we helped each other, nourished friendship and persisted in all that was common to us and brought us closer.

Nikolić, who is ending an official two-day visit today, also attended on Thursday the opening of an exhibition on Pupin at Ljubljana's Town Hall.